John Sherbourne

Once again our Christmas gifts have been donated to Homestart Leeds, a charity that supports local families who for one reason or another are going through difficult times.

However, another very special part of last Sunday’s second service was trimming our beautiful Christmas tree.

This year Shelley found herself officer in charge of all things glittery and what a marvellous job she and her band of helpers did.

Remember that this was just the start of MBC’s packed Christmas programme – still to come: a Carol Service, Blue Christmas (a time to remember and give thanks for those we have lost), a Nativity, a Crib Service, our Christmas Day Celebration and Feast and Fun.

Full details of all these Services and events can be found here https://www.moortownbaptistchurch.org.uk/news/christmas-2019-at-mbc

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Once again Rewind to Christmas got our festive celebrations off to a terrific start. Upwards of 400 Year four children from nine local primary schools together of course with 40 or so staff joined us last Monday and Tuesday as through drama, craft, video and story telling we re-enacted the first Christmas.

With a “cast” and team of more than thirty volunteers each of the projects four sessions ran seamlessly.  Well done to Shelley and the whole gang for once again doing a superb job.

There’s a gallery of pictures here taken mainly at our Tuesday morning session when 120 children from Alwoodley and Allerton C of E Primary School were our guests. To see an enlarged version of any of them simply click on the image.

One unexpected but very welcome offshoot from our Rewind to Christmas programme is an email we have received from Alison Mason, a Year four teacher at Allerton Church of England Primary School. In it Alison (that’s her back row, left in the picture above) asks if any of our us might like to spend a couple of hours a week helping some of her eight year olds develop their reading skills.

MBC’s association with ACE is nothing new; besides being enthusiastic regulars at both our annual Rewinds, in 2011 the school made a brilliant contribution to our What Matters project whilst over the last few years Graham, Jan Fennell, Roger Bridle, Jan Brown, Diane Sunter and John Sherbourne have all taken on various support roles.

Immediately following John S’s comments about this invitation during last Sunday’s second service two people signed up there and then. So if you are interested in joining them in this very simple but amazingly rewarding project would you either Email johnsherbourne2@gmail.com (John will pass your details on to school) or send your message direct to ACE’s librarian and head of volunteer recruitment Helen Whiteley at helen.whitely@allertonceprimary.com

Allerton C of E Primary School (OFSTED Rated GOOD) which is situated on Lingfield Approach is a lovely school and now has more than 600 children on its roll. Their website address is www.allertonceprimary.com  

As well as helping people in need by passing on donated furniture (last year the charity made close on 1,000 deliveries) The Leeds and Moortown Furniture Store* also supplies what it calls Starter Packs. These are put together especially for people who are moving into unfurnished properties, and amongst other things contain crockery, pots and pans and cutlery. Sadly, right now the Store is desperately short of these everyday items. If you have any of these hidden away in a kitchen cupboard and you’re sure you no longer need them LMFS would love to hear from you.

Perhaps the best way to help, and to pass your old stuff on is to speak directly with John Gamson who is the Store’s Manager or with either John Sherbourne on 07913505865 or with Graham Brownlee who are both trustees.

Alternatively, and specifically in regard to cutlery a number of High Street stores are currently selling very reasonably priced place settings; for example you can buy a 16 piece cutlery set from Wilko’s for just £7.00. If you feel that you would like to support the Store by donating towards the cost of any number of these brand new cutlery sets can we invite you to put a donation in an envelope marked LMFS and pop it in the offering.

Many thanks.

*The Leeds and Moortown Furniture Store was formed here at MBC in 1986. Ever since members and friends of the church have served this registered charity in a whole variety of roles.

To find out more about LMFS visit www.leedsandmoortown.org.uk   

Richard Thompson has sent us this information about Street Angels and something they were involved with here in Leeds last weekend – link below.  Obviously it’s too late to take part in this particular event but if you are interested in joining this terrific organisation or you would just like to know more about them please email Richard at mailto:rich.thompson316@gmail.com

Another busy Sunday at MBC (aren’t they all) saw the day start off with a shared breakfast. Then during our 10.30am Communion Service it was time to say both welcome and welcome back.

The welcome was for three new Church Members – James, Nolin and Mary. The welcome back was to Chris and Debbie Drew (left) and their family who after many years service with both BMS (Baptist Missionary Society) and INF (International Nepal Fellowship) in Afghanistan and Nepal respectively have moved back to Leeds.

However, even before all this Rachel Hudd, (right) a young lady who has been a MBC regular for a couple of years or so reaffirmed her faith in a wonderfully open and touching testimony.

Of course our young people also met again in the evening for Momentum. So as I say Sunday (as always) was busy, busy, busy.  

However, as Graham pointed out at the beginning of our morning service, in a church and particularly in one as busy as MBC it’s nigh on impossible to know everyone. That’s why seeing, chatting to, praying with and sharing (bacon butties and/or bread and wine) with friends old and new is so very important.